John Tyler - Student's Choosing - Flow Experience

“You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though difficult, and sense of time disappears. You forget yourself. You feel part of something larger.” - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a leading researcher in positive psychology, has devoted his life to finding what makes people truly happy.  In his research he has discovered the transformative power of creativity, when we feel like we are living more fully then during the rest of life.  Along with this idea of creativity, he has described this experience by the notion of flow.  This is the creative moment when the participant is entirely involved in an activity for its own sake and purpose.

 

 The quote above is taken from one of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s discussions on the flow experience.  When I heard him say this, I immediately thought of the times when I skateboarded with my friends through my neighborhood in middle school.  In these moments I remember have a crystal clear conscious in the sense that I was not aware of myself but instead fully aware of all my senses.  On cold nights, the air would sting my skin and my lungs, however, instead of being distracted by it I embraced the feelings.  Riding along side of my best friends, I knew that we were all experiencing something huge yet each of us in different ways.  With every push and turn, I sank further into the motions and in those moments I was truly happy.

The link below is to a youtube video of him on a TED talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXIeFJCqsPs